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CAVITE | Affordable Tagaytay Lodging at D-Zone Backpacker’s Inn

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Tagaytay City is one of Metro Manila’s favorites when it comes to weekend getaways. It’s affordable enough for day tours, but when you want to extend your vacation for a day or two more, it suddenly gets expensive as there’s not that much decent but cheap accommodations in the area.

A year ago, a lodging catering to the backpacking crowd sprouted up at Tagaytay City’s outskirts, the D-Zone Backpacker’s Inn. While not really located in Tagaytay City but in Silang, Cavite; it’s still just a few minutes away from the Tagaytay Ridge by jeep that you can consider it to be a Tagaytay accomodation by virtue of its location.

The lodging is housed in a four-storey building with a café under the works at the ground level. D-Zone Backpacker’s Inn starts at the second level.

The place, painted in cool apple green is squeaky clean. They offer short-term overnight rentals and long-term weekly or monthly ones. I think there were a few Korean students renting the place out long-term during our stay.

The inn has a total of sixteen rooms spread on three floors. There are fan-room dorm-types (Php 1,200.00) that can bed four individuals; and two-person rooms with queen-sized beds (air-conditioned and fan rooms). Both of these have no en suite comfort rooms though. For those wanting their own CR’s they have deluxe (Php 1,800.00) and superior rooms (Php 2,000.00). For updated rates and online booking, check here.

For food, there are snacks available at the counter but they don’t serve breakfast. It’s easy enough to get one though at the tapsilog carinderias along the road near the building.

D-Zone’s invitation provided us with a Deluxe Room. It’s air-conditioned, has a small LED TV right beside the bed, a couple of chairs and a table for eating and lots and lots of cabinet space. The room’s not that big but its size wouldn’t make you claustrophobic either as there are windows on two of its walls.

I was actually surprised that they provide free toiletries to guests considering it’s a backpacker inn. The kit includes the usual unbranded pair of toothbrushes with a sachet of toothpaste; a couple of shampoos and a little bar of soap and two towels.

The comfort room is located ten seconds away from our room at the far end of the corridor. D-Zone grouped all the restrooms together in a single area and guests are provided with a separate key which assigns them their own CR for the duration of their stay.

Most travelers I know would die without connecting to the Internet for at least a few hours a day and it is good that D-Zone provides free wi-fi Internet connection for all their guests. The only problem is it’s kinda hard to get a decent signal inside our room. What we do is hang at the common living area when we need to connect online.

And like any backpacker inn, D-Zone has a couple of board games to while away the time and maybe provide a bit of socialization with their guests. I saw two chess and a single Monopoly board under a table; pretty limited selections, I wish they have playing cards.

We only stayed for a night at the D-Zone Backpacker’s Inn but it’s enough to get a feel of the place. It’s actually pretty good for those looking for an affordable place to stay overnight while in Tagaytay City.

Room rates can go as low as Php300.00 per person for a group of four backpackers sharing a dorm room, but they also have rooms for those wanting a bit more privacy; albeit at a higher price. I also like the fact that they have long-term rentals, which can really save you some dough, if you’re staying in the area for a week or more.

All in all, we liked the room and we dig how close it was to the restaurants and tourists spots in Tagaytay City. Big thanks to D-Zone Backpacker’s Inn for inviting us to their place!